Door-plate



D. M. SCOTT. DOOR PLATE.

' (No Model.)

No. 522,677. Patented July 10, 1894.

INVENTORJ ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DENNIS M. SCOTT, OF WVARNERS, NEIV YORK, ASSIGNOR OF TWO-THIRDS TO WILLARD J. BELL, OF SAME PLACE, AND IRWIN B. HOYT, OF SYRACUSE,

NEWV YORK.

DOOR-PLATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 522,677, dated July 10, 1894.

Application filed October 28, 1893. Serial No. 489,373- (No model) To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DENNIS M. SCOTT, of Warners, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Door-Plates, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention has special reference to the class of door-plates which are secured to the face of the door and are provided with a slot communicating with a mail-receiving slot in the door, and a flap pivoted to said plates normally closes the slot. And the invention consists in an improved construction and combination of said door-plate and its flap, which plate is specially adapted to be used on the exterior of an outside door, and effectually guards against entrance of rain through the slot of the plate and door, and is simple and inexpensive to manufacture. And the invention also consists in the 00111- bination with the door-plate provided with the slot and flap, of an electric circuit maker and breaker in the path of the flap who actuated thereby, and an electric bell in circuit with said maker and breaker, whereby an alarm is given automatically by the opening of the flap, all-as hereinafter more fully described and specifically set forth in the claims.

In the anneked drawings Figure 1 is a face view of a door provided with a plate embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged face view of the door-plate. Figs. 3 and 4. are transverse sections respectively on lines --X-X and Y--Y- in Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 is a transverse section on line -Z-Z- in Fig. 3.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

--D-=-- denotes the door which is provided with the slot -cfor the reception of the mail.

-bdenotes the door-plate which is secured to the exterior of the door and is provided with the slot b-- communicating with the slot c-.

a represents the flap which is pivoted at or near the center of its width in opposite ends of the slotted ortlon of the plate bby trunnions t-- A on the ends of the flap seated in sockets -d-cZ- formed in the back I of the plate as shown in Fig. 4c of the draw logs. The flap swings with its top portion inward and is weighted below its pivots to automatically close the flap and hold it normally in its closed position. When said flap is in its open position, it forms a chute for the letter passing through the slots band c--.

To guard against entrance of rain through the slot of the plate I undercut the top edge of the slot -b'- as shown by -b in Fig. 3 of the drawings, and bevel the bottom edge outward and downward as shown at -b"'- and bevel the top and the bottom edges of the flap a-- corresponding to the aforesaid edges of the plate. The bottom of the slot -cin the door I preferably bevel inward to allow the flap to be thrown into an inwardly inclined open position as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3 of the drawings. The flap, when closed, is flush with the exterior of the plate -b as shown by full lines in said figure.

-B represents an electric bell which may be of any suitable and well known construction and may be located in any desired position inside of the building.

-edenotes the conducting wire which connects the magnet fwith the battery O-. Another wire -e is extended from the battery to the plate, -?9 which constitutes one of the electrodes. A metal plate Z-- is attached to the bottom surface of the slot cof the door, so as to come in contact with the metallic flap -=aonly when thrown into its open position as represented I by dotted lines in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

1.'- represents the ground wire which is connected to the plate -Z-. The flap a-= when in its closed position, is out of contact with the plate -Z and thus the circuit is broken. In throwing the flap into its open position it comes in contact with the plate "-Z- and thus completes the circuit through ICC secured to the exterior thereof and provided with the slot Z)- having an under cut topedge and an outwardly and downwardly beveled bottom edge, and the flap a pivoted at or near the center of itswidth in opposite ends of the slotted portion of the plate, weighted below its pivots and beveled at its top and bottom edges to correspond to the bevels of the slot, said plate swinging with its top inward and forming a chute for the letter passing through the slot substantially as described and shown.

2. The combination, with a house-door provlded with the slot c, of the plate -battached to the exterior of the door and provided with the slot b, the flap a pivoted at or near the center of its width in the ends of the slotted portion of the plate and swinging with its top inward, an electric cir-. cuit having one terminal connected with the flap and another terminal in the path of the flap to come in contact therewith when in its open position, and an electric bell in said circuit as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name this 4th day of October, 1893.

DENNIS M. SCOTT. [L. s.] Witnesses:

THOMAS H. MARVIN, WILLIAM B. QUICK. 

